AirNow

You can access real-time, forecasted, and historical U.S. air quality data by running the AirNow MCP Server locally. This MCP server lets you query the AirNow API through a standardized set of tools so your language model can fetch AQI values, observations, contour maps, and historical data in a consistent, programmatic way.

How to use

You interact with the AirNow MCP Server through an MCP client by launching the server locally and then issuing data-queries via the provided tools. Use the available tools to fetch current or historical AQI, obtain contour maps, or retrieve observations for a location or area. Combine multiple tools in your workflow to build a single, coherent data retrieval session for the LLM to reason over.

How to install

Prerequisites: Node.js version 22.14.0 or newer, or Docker, and an AirNow API key.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "airnow_mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@prsantos/airnow-mcp-server"
      ],
      "env": {
        "AIRNOW_API_KEY": "<YOUR-AIRNOW-API-KEY>",
        "APPDATA": "<Value of APPDATA>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Or, to run via Docker, use this configuration snippet.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "airnow_mcp": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "-i",
        "--rm",
        "-e",
        "AIRNOW_API_KEY",
        "prsantos/airnow-mcp-server"
      ],
      "env": {
        "AIRNOW_API_KEY": "<YOUR-AIRNOW-API-KEY>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Additional notes

You need a valid AirNow API key to access the endpoints. If you are using NPX, ensure Node.js is installed and you can run npm commands. If you prefer Docker, ensure Docker is running on your host.

Configuration and security

Configure your MCP client to load one of the available MCP server options and provide your AirNow API key securely. Do not expose your API key in logs or shared configurations.

Troubleshooting

If you encounter connection issues, verify that the AirNow API key is valid, your network allows outbound requests to AirNow endpoints, and the MCP server process is running. Check that the environment variable AIRNOW_API_KEY is correctly passed to the server process.

Available tools

forecast_by_lat_long

Get current or historical forecasted AQI values and categories for a location by latitude/longitude.

forecast_by_zip_code

Get current or historical forecasted AQI values and categories for a location by ZIP code.

contour_maps_by_geographic_bounding_box_ozone

Retrieve current or historical contour maps for ozone in a defined geographic bounding box in KML format.

contour_maps_by_geographic_bounding_box_pm25

Retrieve current or historical contour maps for PM2.5 in a defined geographic bounding box in KML format.

contour_maps_by_bounding_box_combined_ozone_pm25

Retrieve current or historical contour maps showing combined ozone and PM2.5 values in KML format.

current_observations_by_reporting_area_by_lat_long

Get current AQI values and categories by latitude/longitude for a reporting area.

current_observations_by_reporting_area_by_zip_code

Get current AQI values and categories by ZIP code for a reporting area.

observations_by_monitoring_site_by_geographic_bounding_box

Obtain AQI values or data concentrations within a geographic area for a specified time range.

historical_observations_by_reporting_area_by_lat_long

Get historical AQI values and categories by latitude/longitude for a reporting area.

historical_observations_by_reporting_area_by_zip_code

Get historical AQI values and categories by ZIP code for a reporting area.